GOD, I’M ANGRY:
Anger, Forgiveness, and the Psalms of
Vengeance
By Maggie Low
Langham Publishing. 168 pages. £14.99
ISBN 978 1 839 736 858
John Woods reviews two books on the Psalms and one on how to read the Old Testament.
Some psalms come with a ‘health warning’; Psalm 137 and the ‘inconvenient’ final section of Psalm 139 come to mind!
This book was not entirely as I had expected. I had anticipated a book mainly focused on the Psalms, but it is a bit more than that. Most of the book deals with anger, forgiveness and justice. The book begins with the pertinent question: ‘Is it ok to be angry?’ The answer given here is a qualified ‘Yes’.
The author insists that any anger expressed by a Christian needs to be managed wisely. Many people who have been wronged might well be helped by this chapter to understand what they can do with their feelings.
The author thoroughly explores the concept of whether forgiveness is unconditional and indiscriminate or whether in fact it is conditional on the presence of repentance and faith. This is a challenging and searching section of the book; not everyone will agree with every exegetical move, but careful readers will be informed by the author’s reasoning.
The final three chapters focus specifically on the question of whether Christians can pray the psalms of vengeance, and if so, how? The author guides the reader through three psalms – 83, 109 and 137 – before providing in the final chapter a step-by-step guide to an appropriate use of these psalms.
Devotional take
A DEVOTIONAL EXPERIENCE OF THE PSALMS:
Enjoying the Riches of God’s Treasure Chest
By Gerard Chrispin
119 Press. 403 pages. £14.99
ISBN 979 8 376 559 673
This simpler devotional take on the Psalms started life as a series of messages to prisoners.
On Psalm 119 the author says: ‘To try to summarise this “Everest” of the psalms is like trying to itemise the contents of a huge treasure chest on a postcard!’
Brief, quaint, simple and practical.
Reading the Old Testament
WISDOM FOR FAITHFUL READING:
Principles and Practices for Old Testament Interpretation
By John H. Walton
Inter Varsity Press. 248 pages. £20
ISBN 978 1 514 004 876
This is another useful resource that is packed with helpful instruction about how to read the Old Testament well.
The book is divided into two main sections, the first dealing with general principles, the second assessing various Old Testament genres.
As a preacher I was particularly interested in the short section under the heading: ‘The Old Testament is not about Jesus, but it drives us to Jesus’. This is a useful corrective to the ‘Where’s Wally?’ approach to preaching Jesus from the Old Testament that can tend to fail to read the Old Testament in its own terms.
